Visa Expands Stablecoin Payouts Through Zerohash Integration
Key Takeaways
- •Visa has partnered with Zerohash to enable Visa Direct clients to prefund accounts and send payouts using stablecoins.
- •The integration allows businesses to manage liquidity outside traditional banking hours and recipients to receive payouts directly in stablecoins.
- •Zerohash, founded in 2017, recently applied for a national trust bank charter and helped power Morgan Stanley's crypto trading rollout on E*Trade in July.
- •Visa's latest announcement follows its January partnership with BVNK for stablecoin pilots and the July launch of the Visa Stablecoin Platform for banks and fintechs.
- •The expansion reflects broader industry momentum, with competitors such as Stripe acquiring stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge in 2024.
Visa is broadening its stablecoin payment capabilities through a new arrangement with crypto infrastructure provider Zerohash, enabling eligible Visa Direct clients to prefund accounts and send payouts using stablecoins.
In an announcement on Wednesday, Zerohash said the new capabilities will be available through Visa Direct, Visa's money movement network that reaches billions of endpoints across cards, bank accounts, and digital wallets globally. The integration allows businesses to fund Visa Direct accounts with stablecoins before making payments, allowing them to manage liquidity outside traditional banking hours. Recipients can also receive payouts directly in stablecoins rather than local currency.
"Unlocking stablecoin use cases at the core network level further accelerates adoption globally," Zerohash founder and CEO Edward Woodford said in a statement.
Founded in 2017, Zerohash provides crypto infrastructure for financial institutions. In March, the company applied for a national trust bank charter to expand its custody and settlement business. In July, it helped power Morgan Stanley's rollout of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana trading on E*Trade.
The announcement marks Visa's latest move into the stablecoin sector. In January, the company partnered with BVNK to pilot stablecoin prefunding and payouts on Visa Direct. In July, Visa launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform, providing banks and fintechs with tools to issue, hold, and transfer stablecoins while integrating them into existing treasury and payment systems. The expansion comes as other major payment companies pursue similar strategies, including Stripe's acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge in 2024.
"Stablecoins are creating new opportunities to make money movement faster and more flexible, particularly for cross-border use cases," Mark Nelsen, Visa's global head of product, said in a statement. "Working with Zerohash helps us bring stablecoin capabilities to our clients at scale, in a way that's reliable and interoperable with the financial systems they already rely on today."